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1996 Lionel Corporation Catalog

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1996 Lionel Corporation Catalog
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 12:20 PM

Hi all,

I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on the 1996 Lionel Catalog.  If you remember, it brought back the illustrations which most of us love so much.  However, there seem to be two complaints I run into:

1) The quality of the illustrations.

2) The limited number of products in the catalog itself.

For my part, I absolutely LOVE the catalog, the illustrations especially.  And to me the smaller number of product offerings made them feel much more special, as opposed to today's catalogs that have a ton of product, but none that capture that special feeling. 

Would love to know your thoughts!

Joe

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Posted by alank on Monday, November 28, 2016 6:51 PM

I think you are talking about the Lionel Century Club, reissues of Lionel Corp. locomotives.   Illustrations were good, but not really 1950s illustrations.   I bought the 726 Berkshire and enjoyed running it back then.   I had plans to buy the F3s, but held off due to a job change.   All the engines were nice, with command control, and a premium price.   

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Posted by RedfireS197 on Monday, November 28, 2016 11:46 PM

alank

I think you are talking about the Lionel Century Club, reissues of Lionel Corp. locomotives.   Illustrations were good, but not really 1950s illustrations.   I bought the 726 Berkshire and enjoyed running it back then.   I had plans to buy the F3s, but held off due to a job change.   All the engines were nice, with command control, and a premium price.   

 

I remember the catalgog that Joe mentioned.  It was separate from the Century Club catalog.  I'll have to see if I can find it here.

Jim

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 4:30 PM

No, not the Century Club catalog (which I also love), the regular issue 1996 Lionel Corporation Catalog.  And not to mention the great heritage one in 1997! I remember when they came out thinking "GREAT! WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS!" But, unfortunately I was wrong, and they didn't last more than a few years.  But what a great try.

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 10:38 PM

Alank,

I went ahead and bought the F3's years later, and they were very nice, great presentation, packaging, blueprints were cool, and they were great runners.  Now you can pick them up for great prices.  In the end,  without the passenger cars I found the NYC paint scheme a bit dull and only ran them for one Xmas before selling them.  But if you like NYC, I don't think the F3 gets any better than the Century Club offering (Although the Grand Central Express set was tempting in 2012 or 2013.)

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Posted by RedfireS197 on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 11:00 PM

JoeD1980

No, not the Century Club catalog (which I also love), the regular issue 1996 Lionel Corporation Catalog.  And not to mention the great heritage one in 1997! I remember when they came out thinking "GREAT! WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS!" But, unfortunately I was wrong, and they didn't last more than a few years.  But what a great try.

 

 

Joe,

There was also an accessory catalog for 1997 that was illustrated the same way.  One thing I remember about that 1996 catalog were some of the products marked 'On the Lionel Horizon'.

Jim

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 11:07 PM

Hey Red,

Btw, I love your Mustang, my last one was a 2007 GT Conv.  I really wanted your color, but I got the triple black which I ended up not loving. 

Yep, that was the one, the "On the Horizon" was a Rock Island set with a remote control if I remember, correct?  That's exactly the kind of dreamy stuff I find missing from today's catalog.  But I will say, the 2016 Volume 2 cover is really, really nice.

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 11:11 PM

Oh yeah,

and what was the accessory catalog?  I never saw that but am now terribly interested...

 

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Posted by RedfireS197 on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 11:45 PM

JoeD1980

Oh yeah,

and what was the accessory catalog?  I never saw that but am now terribly interested...

 

 

Joe,

Here is a link to the image of the cover.  I'll have to see if I still have this one.

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/LUwAAOxyXDhSfT~v/s-l300.jpg

 

Jim

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Posted by Papa_D on Friday, December 16, 2016 8:23 AM

Here’s the cover of the Lionel Corporation (no longer LTI) 1996 catalog. Nice but missing something from the Postwar catalog graphics. It was just 24 pages including front and back covers.

Scattered throughout were several “On-The-Lionel-Horizon” items planned for the next year. Not sure how many of them were actually offered the following year.

Papa D

 

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Posted by ADCX Rob on Friday, December 16, 2016 2:59 PM

Papa_D

The "Scout CAB" is now known as "Lionchief".

Rob

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